Heal Block

After deducing the likelihood of Margaret's being here, Arthur could only think of one thing: "Time travel…"

The tension rose as Margaret glared at Arthur. Her chakra was swirling around her like a tempest ready to unleash its fury.

"Why not relax for once?" he suggested, brushing the hair from his face.

His nonchalance only served to stoke her ire.

"Buddy, you don't know who you're dealing with," she threatened.

Then her chakra pressure increased. It was huge; it pressed down on Arthur, and he felt the weight of it. Yet, he stood his ground, refusing to flinch.

For a moment, there was silence as they sized each other up. Arthur took a step back, and in an instant, ten wood clones surged forward, closing the distance from all sides.

His expression remained calm, knowing he had already been in situations like this.

As the clones advanced, he ducked under one lethal kick, twirled away from another, and leaped backwards, narrowly escaping the grasp of a third.

The Margaret clones stared, momentarily stunned that he had managed to evade them as if they were mere fodder.

"I can see why this guy gave you so much trouble, mom," one of the clones said, slightly admiring his skills.

Margaret cracked her neck, preparing for a counterattack. In a sudden burst of speed, all her wood clones swarmed after Arthur.

'They're fast,' he thought, feeling the heat of their pursuit.

He knew he had to buy more time and stay on the move. Suddenly, he ducked once more, barely evading a kick, and then planted his feet to pivot past one clone's reach.

As he glided, he managed to dodge another attempt to snag him from above.

"Get lost..." he declared, and with a single wave of his hand, he unleashed a burst of precise chakra that shattered the third wood clone into splinters.

The others halted, glancing at the remnants.

"Never knew a Sound Ninja had that in him," a clone remarked with a taunting smirk.

But Arthur didn't engage; instead, he gestured for the rest to come at him. They obliged hastily.

He moved fluidly, dodging and gliding past their bodies as if he were part of the very air around them. He dipped under a swing, then vaulted over another's attempt to ensnare his legs.

He felt like a dancer amidst pinching crabs.

One clone managed to land a hit, a hard jab into his side. He dared not to wince and quickly masked it, turning his unexpected reaction into a combat-ready stance.

"Hard body you've got!" the clone remarked with surprise.

Hard was an understatement. He'd perfected his body over the course of his training. But to think a player was strong enough to injure him without chakra!

Arthur assessed her caliber. He was impressed, but it wasn't enough to make him falter.

Margaret now looked on. Seeing that this was becoming a nuisance, she clapped her hands together.

"Wood style: domed wall jutsu!"

From the earth, a colossal wall of wood began to unfurl around Arthur, stretching several yards upwards like a fortress encasing its prey.

He had recognized the technique from Yamato. But Margaret's version—a feathery bramble of branches—much exceeded his expectations.

'And she's not even in Sage Mode?' he thought, narrowing his eyes.

He leapt upwards, aiming to clear the dome and escape its enclosing trap. Just as he reached the apex of his jump, however, a clone shot upwards and caught his leg, dragging him back down toward the earth.

He tumbled, managing to roll gracefully before crashing onto the ground.

"Nowhere to run now!" one of the clones taunted as they closed in around him.

Calmly, Arthur brushed off the dust from his garments. Then he raised his hands, proclaiming, "Tell me, Margaret…"

The wood clones halted, surprised by his audacity, while the real Margaret narrowed her eyes. "Did Orochimaru tell you about me?"

"I've heard quite a bit about you… You're from the Senju clan, right?"

"What do you know?" she scowled, wondering if his question related to her character's con. "Wait, now I recognize you… They said your name was Kaito, am I right?"

Arthur was stalling, and it was working. He knew he needed to approach this carefully.

"You can call me that," he revealed. "But did you know that there was a group Alice was involved with before we met…? One of those shinobi was named Iruka."

Margaret's stance shifted as she shouted, "What about him?!"

"Isn't it obvious what I'm getting at?" Arthur said. "I slew him as he yelled that pathetic Jinchūriki's name…"

In an instant, Margaret's anger erupted, and chakra spilled from her in waves as she clapped her hands again. "Wood style: deep forest—" But just as she finished, he vanished from her sight!

"W-What?!" the clones gasped. "Where did he go?!"

Margaret ceased her jutsu, trying to comprehend how he had simply disappeared as if he had never been there.

"No… no!"

She released her dome and the remaining clones before focusing their chakra, desperately searching for Arthur's presence. But he was gone, lost like he had never been here in the first place.

In her frantic search, her gaze fell on the unconscious form of Alice, still hidden under a smaller wooden dome underground. Now Margaret was regretful.

"I'm so sorry, Alice. I couldn't avenge you…"

Lifting her hands, she popped up the smaller dome and revealed Alice's body. "But at least you're safe…"

Margaret took a moment to collect her thoughts, feeling too much frustration and worry. She had blown her chance to take revenge, but more importantly, she had to find a way to protect Alice—after all, that was the paramount objective.

She knelt beside her friend, reassuring herself she was okay for now. "I'll get you out of this, Alice," she swore silently, feeling a knot of determination coil in her stomach.

As she thought through her options, she remembered Arthur's last words about Iruka. Was he just using the shinobi as a forefront to escape?

No, Iruka actually had been with Alice during the mission. He had also been a beloved figure, a dedicated teacher, and a hero to many in the village. Sure, she wished him dead, but she never meant it.

The thought of his death, branded by Arthur's hand, ignited a sudden rage within her.

She closed her eyes and tried to quell her fury. "You'll pay for what you did to Iruka, Kaito… I promise that!"

Looking around, she relaxed, preventing her wrath from fueling her next decision. For now, she wouldn't let this stand, but she still needed to bring her friend to safety.

With a flick of her wrist, she sent a series of clones to spread across the area, finding vantage points where they could wait for their moment.

"I won't let you down anymore," she whispered, preparing the healing technique.

The healing process was smooth, and Margaret poured her chakra into Alice, repairing the torn threads of her chakra. Slowly, Alice had recovered, but she didn't seem ready.

"It's okay," Margaret replied. "You're okay now. We're going home."

As she helped Alice up, Margaret looked around to ensure the coast was clear. Then, she activated her Slug Sage Mode. The red slime emanated from her body, readying to aid her in flight.

This time, she was determined to get Alice home safely and without being seen.

"Try to hold on tight, okay?" Margaret asked as she lifted Alice into her arms.

Then the two took off into the sky, soaring above the area, careful to avoid drawing any unwanted attention. It was good that she knew how to fly, as it would prevent those wretched bandits from always targeting her.

Moments later, they arrived at their apartment.

Margaret gently landed, opening the door. She then set Alice down on her back on the table.

"Just relax for a bit," she instructed Alice.

As Margaret contemplated things, she felt nostalgia. She suddenly heard a voice that made her panic.

"Great, just great. What's the point of having a door if it's not locked?"

It was her past self about to walk in!

"William, you really need to stop coming here uninvited…"

"Oh shoot…" Margaret blurted, recalling she had forgotten to close the door when she entered earlier. Knowing what was about to happen, she instinctively grabbed Alice's body and whispered, "We need to hide!"

They slipped into the nearby closet. There, she listened to her past self chatter on cluelessly about her afternoon plans to go to the spa. While they were hiding, her past self was oblivious to the fact that Alice and her future self were just a few feet away.

"Come on, me," Margaret said. "Just hurry up and leave."

Once her past self finally departed, she exited the closet with the still-unconscious Alice.

Now she had another issue to deal with. Right now, Alice was not in the same state as before. Knowing she had desperately saved Alice, but she still was not entirely understanding the roots of her earlier screams.

She gently laid Alice down on the table where they had originally found her. Perhaps if she just left her here, the others would come and take notice.

"No," she muttered to herself. "That wouldn't make sense. Like, what happens to the me of this time?"

Margaret spent the next half hour contemplating what she should do. She was on the verge of pulling her hair. Time travel was so confusing, and the clock was ticking.

Suddenly, she got an idea.

"Genjutsu: infinite darkness jutsu!"

Darkness enveloped Alice's consciousness, and almost immediately, she began to panic. Frantic screams erupted, echoing against the walls. "Somebody, help me!"

"Shh! I'm so sorry!" Margaret quickly whispered, knowing how much pain Alice might be in.

But she couldn't just leave things as is. So she performed a healing block, a specialized jutsu intended to mask whatever ordeal she was experiencing from others wishing to help.

At that moment, she heard Jada rushing in the entrance. "Alice, is that you?!"

Margaret quickly ran into the closet, careful not to make a sound. As she watched Jada panic, she considered to herself how it was actually her technique that Alex had managed to see through. Is he seriously that much stronger? she thought.

Several other voices started flooding into the apartment as her past self also entered eventually.

"Guys?" Margaret's past self exclaimed. "What's going on?"

"We don't know!" Jada replied in a panicked tone. "We just found her like this!"

Margaret knelt next to Alice, feeling dreadful as she looked into her friend's face.

"Alice, can you hear me? What's wrong?"

"I'm… so scared!" Alice's voice trembled at an unexplainable terror. "It's so dark. I can't… I can't find my way back!"

Alex and Jada went on to use their Kekkei Genkai to discover the root cause. Yet even with their dōjutsu, they couldn't see past the healing block Margaret had placed on her.

After a while, her past self said, "Hold on… "I have something in my closet—that special small slug from Shikkotsu Forest! It might help! Just wait."

The real Margaret looked down, and her heart sank upon suddenly seeing the small slug right in the closet.

"I'm totally screwed!" she lamented internally.

Just as everything unfolded in slow motion, her past self flung open the closet door, but the moment she did, they both heard Alice's anguished screams echo from the room.

That was Margaret's moment. In that fraction of distraction, she grabbed the slug and dashed out of the closet and into the bathroom without her past self noticing. But her fortune ran thin when she mistakenly knocked over something.

Her past self looked in that direction, contemplating if the slug had gone in there. Just then, a blood-curdling scream echoed through the room.

The real Margaret stayed hidden while listening as the others called out in confusion, "Marge! Where are you?!"

With each frantic heartbeat, her past self finally left. The real Margaret decided to wait it out in the bathroom, knowing that the crazy event would play out.

It wasn't long until Jasper finally placed a hand over her head just like before.

"Be careful…" Alex warned.

"Yeah," Jada chimed in, "We're counting on you."

With that, Jasper focused his chakra. As he prepared to perform the technique, already Margaret's past self felt a wave of chakra breathing into her core.

Jasper's voice broke through the tension. "Ready?"

"Always," Margaret stated with steely resolve.

"Time Travel jutsu…"

When the light faded and her past self faded, the real Margaret found herself stepping out of the bathroom. Unbelievably, she stood among her friends, who were all collected in the living room.

She could see the surprise on their faces.

"What just happened?" Jada dared to ask.

"I'll explain later!" Margaret blurted, cutting off any potential questions.

She stepped closer to Alice and performed a quick technique that pulled the healing block from Alice's mind, undoing the veil that prevented them from seeing what was wrong. Immediately, she felt the chamber of Alice's mind begin to open up, and with another breath, she deactivated the genjutsu that still lingered, whisking away the darkness that clouded Alice's perception.

But that still wasn't enough, so Margaret pulled out the slug and fed it to Alice. There was a faint glow before the chakra coursed through her body and revitalized her spirit.

The others were taken aback by what transpired next.

Slowly, Alice blinked, lifting her head as she saw where she was. "Marge? What… what happened? I was—"

"I'm so sorry for everything, Alice," Margaret said. "I didn't know what I was getting into when I performed that technique. But it's fine now. You're fine now."

"We'll talk about it all later," Alex assured. "Right now, we need to know what actually happened that put you in that state."

"Okay," Alice replied, steadied by her friends' comfort.

As things settled, Margaret understood that time travel hadn't just been an overwhelming puzzle, something that connected her and her friends in unexpected ways.

Whatever they had encountered—and whatever they would encounter together—meant that they were stronger as a unit.

"Guys," she said, addressing the group. "We gotta talk about this Kaito character…"